Thursday, September 22, 2005

Casablanca - Chicago style

"I'm shocked, shocked to find out that gambling is going on in here.""Your winnings, sir.""Oh, thank you very much."

This extraordinarily funny scene from one of the greatest movies of all time comes to mind as we were reading today's slum-times article by fran spielman. In it, mayor daley is described as "not pleased" at the name change Marshall Field's is going to be undergoing and the mayor "found it somewhat jarring" to learn that the company so long synonymous with State Street shopping would vanish from the retail landscape.

Nothing at all about how "somewhat jarring" citizens of the city and visiting pilots found it when earth moving equipment carved giant X's in what was once a runway. Or how taxpayers were "somewhat jarred" by a park that was supposed to cost $100 million suddenly cost $350 million. Or the "jarring" feeling that keeps coming back whenever fees, fines or taxes go up or scandals arise.

"Somewhat jarring" is what happens all the time in the real world fran. Welcome to it.